Alex Jennings is a comedian, educator, and award-winning author whose writing has appeared in Current Affairs Magazine, pseudopod.org, and New Suns, volumes 1 and 2.
He is an instructor of Popular Fiction at the Stonecoast MFA program as well as a columnist for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
His debut novel, The Ballad of Perilous Graves was released by Orbit/Redhook in 2022.
His fiction and poetry have been short-listed for numerous awards including The Ernest J. Gaines Award, The Ray Bradbury Prize for Speculative Fiction, the Locus Award for Best Debut Novel, and the World Fantasy Award.
He is the winner of the 2023 Compton Crook Prize from the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. He lives and works in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
If you were transported into one of your books as a character, what kind of character would you be and what kind of adventures would you have?
A musical sorcerer living in the magically-powered city of Nola—just like in my novel The Ballad of Perilous Graves. I’d be content to leave the real adventuring to others, and simply explore and have a good time.
If you were to write a fantasy-themed cookbook, what kind of recipes would you include?
Honestly, I want to try just about every dish mentioned in The First Binding by R. R. Virdi. It’s got to be the best sounding food in nearly any book I’ve read. I can’t write a cookbook without sampling the dishes over and over, right? Hook it up, Ronnie!
If you could have any fictional pet as a companion, what would it be and why?
This is insane, but Glomer, the wish-granting furry… thing… from the old 80s Punky Brewster cartoon is the one thing that springs to mind. If I remember correctly, he spoke similarly to Snarf from The Thundercats, so hanging out with him would get pretty old pretty fast—still: wishes. I could wish him a better voice!
If you had to choose between fighting 100 duck-sized robots or one robot-sized duck, which would you pick and why?
Robot-sized duck. And since “robot” isn’t a size, I’d make him an inch long and smash him with the heel of my girlfriend’s ballet flat.
If you were to write a story featuring yourself as the main character, what kind of adventure would you embark on?
I’ve actually done this more than once. I have a story called “Fat Kids” that came out this month in Bourbon Penn that involves ghostly encounters in New Orleans, and while I try to avoid any possible ghosts in real life, there are some people I’d like to have a chat with, make sure they’re okay.
If you had to describe your writing style using a fantasy-themed board game, which game would you choose and why?
I’m gonna go with Zany Penguins because my writing is kinda nutty, but also pretty cool. Don’t come after me saying that’s not a fantasy-themed game, because penguins can’t talk in real life. (I assume the penguins in that game can talk.)
If you had to choose one of your own fictional worlds to live in, which one would it be, and why?
I had this story called “T ME” on EscapePod years ago. It’s set in a world where a mysterious CD boosted the intelligence of a child in the womb to inhuman levels. Presumably more than one copy of the CD existed, and multiple parents used it to influence their children’s intelligence. I’m honestly curious as to how that turned out, generally. Plus, in other respects, it resembles our own world—which is good, because I like a lot of things about our world, to be sure!
If aliens were to visit Earth, what do you think their first impression of humans would be?
You know, I read somewhere that horses and elephants both find humans terminally cute, and that’s one of the reasons why they tolerate our presence and interactions. In the case of horses, I doubt that’s true, since they consider us to be predators and they’re probably frightened of us more often than not, but I like the idea of another species finding us so cute they just can’t stand it, and wanting to play and cuddle with us all the time. Let’s go with that. They’d probably feel like we’re pretty dumb, as well, and kind of crazy, but maybe that would only add to the cute factor for then, and they just keep us from killing ourselves, each other, the environment, so that they can continue to enjoy us.
What off-beat location would you like to see host a convention, and why?
I’ll be completely honest. It is my great dream in life to attend a Worldcon in Tunis, Tunisia, with Paramaribo, Surinam in second place. I lived in each of those cities during my formative years and both have influenced my SF over the years. Tunis was the first place that ever felt like anything approaching a home, and it is beautiful. Surinam is where I discovered the fiction of Octavia Butler in the American Embassy’s Community Liaison Office library, and honestly, that city would be cheaper to travel to, as it’s much closer.
Name the strangest/weirdest place you’ve ever written. What made it so odd?
In 2021, I attended Under the Volcano, a guided writing retreat in Tepoztlan, Mexico. It’s this beautiful town two hours south of Mexico City. They put me up in a guest house on the outskirts of town where I attended a masterclass led by Sheree Renee Thomas. The landscape was dominated by this gigantic mountain named Tepozteco that the locals purport to be a god. I saw no evidence to the contrary. Any time you’d see the mountain, it had this bizarre sizzling quality to it where it looked both hyperreal and unreal at the same time, just sending out strange breathless vibes and weird dreams every night. There were legends of animal shapeshifters, a convent built on the ruins of an Aztec temple, and cemeteries as strange and beautiful as the ones we have in New Orleans. It was a very strange place to work, and I would go back in a heartbeat even if only to find out whether it was as strange and irreal as it is in my memory.
Mash together two of your favorite SF properties. What’s the new work about?
The Ghost Busters and Scooby Doo. I’m not even kidding. I can’t say exactly what it’s about because I might do it using analogues if I’m never able to get ahold of those two properties. It starts with a Mystery Inc. confrontation with a fake demon who turns out not to be so fake after all….
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Alex Jennings lives and works in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As of this publication, he has lost 125 lbs and counting. Find out more at www.alexjennings.net
